Eric Maynor Has a Touch O' Portis

I'm chatting at 11. Submit copious questions about mascots, our lack of Orioles coverage, my insistence that Georgetown deserves an NCAA tournament bid, my two recent interviews with Canadian media outlets in which I accidentally suggested Caps fans have an inferiority complex, what constitutes showboating, and my ranking of the Caps' six first-round playoff opponents. (Florida is last.)

In the meantime, it's worth noting that while Clinton Portis never busted out his championship belt in D.C., it'll always be a part of his lore. Now, he has bizarre non-fighting sports semi-local company. As many Atlantic 11 voters pointed out this week, Eric Maynor got a championship belt from his coach over the weekend. That's normal. So what was the deal?

Maynor commemorated the third title by parading around after the game with a boxing-style championship belt around his waist, courtesy of Rams coach Anthony Grant.

Grant whipped it out while the Rams were watching video Friday to acknowledge the accomplishment. Maynor said it had one word that he constantly relays to his teammates -- "win" -- on one side, and the three season titles on the other.

Of course, the belt immediately called to mind thoughts of the equally bizarre chain the Rams carried around in the '07 tourney, and Maynor explicitly made the comparison himself, promising his team would cart the belt throughout their postseason adventures. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported today that Grant purchased the belt online and had the engraving done in house. Because every DI program has a belt engraver, just in case.

"I wanted to give them a sense of accomplishment," Grant told the paper. "You play for championships. All those guys came here to win championships. That's the No. 1 goal for us when we start the season, to win the regular-season championship. We accomplished goal No. 1. I think those guys are proud of their accomplishment, proud of the program and the tradition that is VCU. That was just a way to acknowledge that."

Maybe. But no one in this area gets up off the canvas like Gary Williams. Someone give him a belt. And Ralph Friedgen could use a belt, too, come to think of it.